


a good way not to die OR Bucky Barnes: The Academic Paper

by adeleblaircassiedanser



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Character Analysis, Essay, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Meta, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Nonfiction, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Psychological Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-16
Updated: 2014-12-16
Packaged: 2018-03-01 17:32:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,617
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2781734
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adeleblaircassiedanser/pseuds/adeleblaircassiedanser
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I turned in this for a grade at an accredited university. A study of the treatment of traumatic memory in fandom and the experience and possible diagnoses of Bucky Barnes. (Warning: contains reckless application of psychological profiles to fictional characters.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Some of this exposition will not be necessary if you are at all familiar with the films in question/ are a member of this fandom. I had to explain a lot of stuff because I am not sure my professor knows who Captain America is. He told us to write about something we cared about though, so *shrugs*. Many thanks to fourpatch, chaoticallyclev, and a bunch of other people whose meta i read while i was latently forming this ten page paper in my mind lo these many months. i don't know if this will make sense or interest anyone else, but oh well.

In some ways, all the movies which make up Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe[i],  but especially _CA: The Winter Soldier_ and _Iron Man 3_ , share a certain sensibility; that the characters, whatever superpowers they may possess, are still human at their core, and will respond to the trauma of combat, loss, and the other larger-than-life scenarios they encounter in human ways; whether it’s Steve Rogers’ abject depression, isolation, and lack of self-preservation instincts, Tony Stark’s PTSD and panic attacks after the Battle of New York, or Natasha’s extensive trust and identity issues.[ii] For that reason, all these characters can come to serve as parables or analogues for the ways we, human beings in the real world, unfortunately without any superhuman powers, have to deal with traumatic experiences, with reconciling traumatic memories, with surviving and redefining ourselves into something we can live with. This paper will take a look at James Buchanan Barnes, alias the Winter Soldier, through the textual information present in the two _Captain America_ films: _The First Avenger_ and _The Winter Soldier_  (and, to a lesser extent, characterization notes from various iterations of the comics), as well as the fanon[iii] construction of him that has emerged over the last year.  The aims of this examination are twofold. First, to draw parallels between the experience of this character and the defining symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder as laid out in Judith Herman’s _Trauma and Recovery._ Second, to answer this question: why has this idea of Bucky as a trauma survivor been so salient and valuable to fans who, like me, are coping with their own trauma, their own mental illness, and trying to find the best ways not to die. In a certain sense the character of Bucky Barnes is like a totem, occupying the post of a patron saint, or the subject-specific deities of ancient Greece or other polytheistic religions.  By projecting our own fears and anxieties onto these avatars, and talking or writing them out of the worst possible trauma and into some kind of hopeful possibility, over and over again, in slightly different iterations, we are able to turn some of those emotions into something manageable. In a world where mental illness is epidemic, where American combat veterans are committing suicide at a rate of 22 or more per day (Basu), where one in six American women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime (National Institute of Justice), these kinds of stories are indispensable.

James Buchanan Barnes is a fascinating character. Although he takes up a relatively small fraction of screentime within the extensive scope of the MCU, Sebastian Stan manages to make a strong impression on the viewer in each film. First presented as the best friend and right hand man to the titular first avenger, he also serves as a very necessary foil to the stalwart righteousness and reckless idealism of Steven Grant Rogers. Before the administration of the Rebirth serum by Dr. Erskine, Steve suffers from myriad illnesses (asthma, ‘nervous troubles’, ‘heart troubles’, scoliosis, rheumatic fever, etc. etc. ad infinitum) during him and Bucky’s shared childhood in Depression-era Brooklyn. These health problems leave him extremely scrawny for his age (he is in his mid-twenties by the opening of _The First Avenger)._ However, his overdeveloped sense of moral imperative means he often ends up in fights he can’t win, unable to suffer the existence of those he deems as bullies in silence.  Bucky Barnes, his best friend, is the one to get him out of these scrapes. Bucky is everything Steve is not: dark where Steve is fair, handsome and charming where Steve is stunted and awkward.

Later, during the war, the differences grow progressively more pronounced. Steve’s first mission is to rescue Bucky and his unit from a POW camp where he was subject to unexplained medical experimentation at the hands of Nazi scientist Zola. This experience changes Bucky irreparably. Where once he was lighthearted and charming, he becomes withdrawn, his affect changing noticeably. He takes the position of sniper, killing Nazis from a distance so Steve doesn’t have to get his hands too dirty. The two are still as close as other, but their previously symbiotic partnership has been knocked off kilter by Steve’s transformation. Although he is happy for his brother in arms, Bucky is threatened by Steve’s newfound confidence and leadership skills, and by his chemistry with the formidable Agent Peggy Carter. Stan telegraphs these complex emotions well, and the lighting in certain scenes serves to reinforce this change. In several scenes, we see Steve bathed in golden light, in the center of the shot, or standing in the foreground while Bucky stands behind, off to the side, or sits with his face partially or completely shadowed. (vulcansmirk) This bit of foreshadowing is easily forgotten, of course, when Bucky tumbles to his apparent death only a few scenes later.

The next time we see Bucky Barnes, we don’t immediately recognize him. His hair is long and unkempt, his face covered, his left arm constructed of some terrifyingly dangerous cyborg technology, and he’s killing and attempting to kill our heroes. The Winter Soldier, as an entity and a figure within the story, is a villain. However, by examining visual and textual cues, it quickly becomes apparent that the “asset”, as he is called, is not acting as a result of any form of free will, but rather under a level of duress that almost defies understanding. Herman’s words are helpful here:

**“Prisoners of war who succumb to “brainwashing” are often treated as traitors. But the historian Lucy Dawidowicz points out that “complicity” and “cooperation” are terms that apply to situations of free choice. They do not have the same meaning in situations of captivity.” (Herman 115)**

Most viewers of the movie are able to grasp this distinction, and see that the true villain is Alexander Pierce and the depraved Hydra organization which shaped a human man into a killing machine.

**In the case of hostages and prisoners of war, numerous attempts to find supposed personality defects that predisposed captives to “brainwashing” have yielded few consistent results. The conclusion is inescapable that ordinary, psychologically healthy men can indeed be coerced in unmanly ways. (Herman 115)**

Many of these cowardly methods of coercion and manipulation are plainly displayed in the film.  Firstly, one may consider the mask which covers the bottom half of his face. At first thought, it might seem to be a form of protection or a way of maintaining stealth. However, the Soldier stands in the middle of a DC street in broad daylight when he attacks Fury’s car. His handlers clearly do not fear his being seen or recognized. Rather, the mask functions as a muzzle, and the man, now nameless and voiceless, is nothing but an attack dog for Hydra to sic on its target of the moment, and then to be brought back to heel. (springbucky) Then there’s the biomechanical arm, which was grafted onto the stump of Bucky’s amputated arm without his prior knowledge or consent, in a flagrant violation of his bodily autonomy. Tumblr user chaoticallyclevdoes a good job of explaining what makes this so problematic. “The Winter Soldier is so effective as a HYDRA agent _because_ he has no sense of bodily autonomy. He is their point and shoot weapon. He is the asset. He is not considered a person with control over himself.” (chaoticallyclev, emphasis mine)  Herman discusses this kind of violation in _Trauma and Recovery:_

**In addition to inducing fear, the perpetrator seeks to destroy the victim’s sense of autonomy. This is achieved by scrutiny and control of the victim’s body and bodily functions. The perpetrator supervises what the victim eats, when she sleeps, when she goes to the toilet, what she wears. When the victim is deprived of food, sleep, or exercise, this control results in physical debilitation. But even when the victim’s basic physical needs are adequately met, this assault on bodily autonomy shames and demoralizes her. (Herman 77)**

 Bodily autonomy, a pretty significant component in any discussion of the mind, the body, and personhood, entails the right of a human being to decide what happens to their body at any given time- whether they want to give birth, or to donate organs or tissue, to consent to sexual relations, or to use a prosthetic limb. This choice is not given to Bucky Barnes, and that theft is the beginning of a long series of steps towards total dehumanization.

Worse, the way the Hydra agents interact with what they refer to as the “asset” shows that they view him as something between a dangerous but useful tool and a child. Alexander Pierce’s offer of a glass of milk at bedtime is a singularly creepy little touch which drives this infantilization home. Later, in the scene in the vault, it crystallizes even more. The Soldier sits half-naked in a room full of fully dressed, armed agents. This is an easy visual cue about power dynamics, although it is more usually applied, both within fiction and in the real world, towards women. Immediately, we see that the Soldier is vulnerable. Although we have seen him rip the steering wheel from a moving car not long ago, he sits, docile, and allows himself to be chastised. When he questions what Steve told him, his confusion and frustration are painfully childlike. Pierce’s slap- not intended to really hurt him, just to reprimand, in the manner of an overbearing father towards a son- shows the extent to which Bucky Barnes has nearly lost all agency and sense of personhood. He lies back in the chair, relaxed, practiced, and opens his mouth around the rubber bit. The smoothness of these movements makes the viewer wonder how many times this has happened before. How many times over the course of seventy years has this man been frozen to death, only to be revived, wiped, and sent out to commit atrocities he won’t remember?

Bucky Barnes’ experience, obviously, is fictional. There is no direct real-life analogue for his story. _The Winter Soldier_ shows us only (sufficiently disturbing) sketches of what he must have endured in the years between his fall and the events of Cap 2. But we know it has elements of the suffering of political prisoners throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The brainwashing is also similar to the experiences of certain long-term captives in real life, though taken to something of a science fiction extreme. However, Herman describes the unique nature of complex PTSD thusly:

**A SINGLE TRAUMATIC EVENT can occur almost anywhere. Prolonged, repeated trauma, by contrast, occurs only in circumstances of captivity. When the victim is free to escape, she will not be abused a second time; repeated trauma occurs only when the victim is a prisoner, unable to flee, and under the control of the perpetrator. Such conditions obviously exist in prisons, concentration camps, and slave labor camps. These conditions may also exist in religious cults, in brothels and other institutions of organized sexual exploitation, and in families. (Herman 74)**

In studies of real-life patients with complex PTSD memory lapses, amnesia, and confusion about memories and reality are common. (Abedi) Specifically, long-term psychological trauma changes levels of cortisol and norepinephrine in the brain, which affects many different apparatuses, but especially the hippocampus, which is essential to the formation and storage of memories. Especially hard hit is verbal declarative memory- that is, memory of facts and specific personal experiences.  Autobiographical memory has also been known to be affected, although visual and spatial memories are not. (Bremner) Given the science, then, it is not that huge of a stretch to imagine the effects that trauma repeated over a longer period than any normal human could endure, with endless healing allowing re-injury without his captors losing the “asset,” as he is called, might have. The trauma was repeated, ad infinitum, for seventy years. It is not a leap to think that Barnes might lose large chunks of memory, up to and including his own name and identity, nor that an event like seeing Steve’s face again could trigger their partial return.  Says Herman,

**Breaking through the barriers of amnesia is not in fact the difficult part of reconstruction, for any number of techniques will usually work. The hard part of this task is to come face-to-face with the horrors on the other side of the amnesiac barrier and to integrate these experiences into a fully developed life narrative. (Herman 184)**

The Soldier’s reluctance to confront his latent memories in the final fight on the helicarrier, leading him to lash out and lose control for the first time during a fight sequence, could be seen as evidence of the difficulty of this task. Nevertheless, by the end of the fil, the Soldier has escaped from Hydra’s clutches, and seems to have recognized something in Steve, as he drags him from the Potomac and saves his life before walking away. In a cut scene, he even visits the Smithsonian exhibit in his and his war comrades’ honor, investigating the name which has just been given- or rather, returned- to him. However, according to Herman’s observations of real-life cases, these steps alone will not be enough to bring back Steve’s old pal Bucky from the spiritual dead.

**Prolonged captivity also produces profound alterations in the victim’s identity. All the psychological structures of the self—the image of the body, the internalized images of others, and the values and ideals that lend a person a sense of coherence and purpose—have been invaded and systematically broken down. In many totalitarian systems this dehumanizing process is carried to the extent of taking away the victim’s name. (Herman 92)**

Well, Hydra did take away the Soldier’s name, but Steve gave it back! That’s the power of friendship, right? Not so fast.

**Even after release from captivity, the victim cannot assume her former identity. Whatever new identity she develops in freedom must include the memory of her enslaved self. Her image of her body must include a body that can be controlled and violated. Her image of herself in relation to others must include a person who can lose and be lost to others. And her moral ideals must coexist with knowledge of the capacity for evil, both within others and within herself. If, under duress, she has betrayed her own principles or has sacrificed other people, she now has to live with the image of herself as an accomplice of the perpetrator, a “broken” person. The result, for most victims, is a contaminated identity. Victims may be preoccupied with shame, self-loathing, and a sense of failure. In the most severe cases, the victim retains the dehumanized identity of a captive who has been reduced to the level of elemental survival: the robot, animal, or vegetable.” (Herman 93-94)**

Herman has observed many instances of this self-loathing and dehumanization leading to various psychiatric symptoms: she posits that multiple personality disorder, dissociative identity disorder, and borderline personality disorder “might perhaps be best understood as variants of complex post-traumatic stress disorder.” (Herman 126)

            As fans have taken up the storytelling torch where the movie left it, they have wrestled with the myriad possibilities of how the Soldier’s psychological damage might manifest. In some interpretations, he no longer identifies with the name “Bucky,” or views Bucky Barnes and the asset as two separate and irreconcilable entities. This “fragmentation of the self into dissociated alters” is consistent with the symptoms of multiple personality disorder. In most cases, “the array of personality fragments usually includes at least one “hateful” or “evil” alter,” i.e. the Winter Soldier, “as well as one socially conforming, submissive, or “good” alter,” in this case the person the Soldier remembers or doesn’t remember being. (Herman 125) In some versions, Bucky regains all his memories and comes to feel like himself again. In others, he is irrevocably changed and those around him have to adjust to that reality. But each and every time there is some sort of recovery or renewal- the sort which according to Herman is “based upon the empowerment of the survivor and the creation of new connections. Recovery can take place only within the context of relationships; it cannot occur in isolation.” (Herman 133)  This truth can be applied within the metanarrative, as fans imagine Steve, Natasha, Sam, and the rest of the ragtag cast of the MCU accepting the former Soldier as their own: and without it, as the community formed between fans serves as a place for healing as well.

 

Writer Ales Kot is working on a new storyline for Bucky Barnes in the comic books. Although the comics are largely inconsistent with the canon of the movies for various reasons, his insights into the character are still quite relevant to what makes Bucky’s story so resonant and so important. “Killing brings trauma,” Kot says, and his writing seeks to “interrogate the space where the trauma is repeated ad nauseam.” (Sava) This story is almost a definitional iteration of that space.

**Bucky Barnes has undergone self-numbing amounts of traumatic experiences. He killed for the Soviets. He killed for Americans. He had people taken away from him by rather brutal means. He had his mind wiped out. Repeatedly. To top that, he’s hyper-competent when it comes to hurting people and he barely had a childhood. So: a lot of damage. A lot of carefully developed survival mechanisms. The thing about them, though? They might have been important once, but now—well, many of them might be no longer necessary.” (Sava)**

So the conversation is about what to do when you have “experiences you can’t fit into your established worldview,” about how you change as a result- “What is to be embraced? What is to be released? And what is left of the being underneath?” (Sava)

            Tim O’Brien’s _The Things They Carried_ , another war story, another tale of trauma and the words we put around that trauma in order to contain it and survive it, puts it simply. “Story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth.” (O’Brien 6) The act of telling ourselves the same stories, repeating them and translating them and changing the details slightly every time is the essence of myth, of religion, of collective memory. It’s the only way to get at the kernel of truth within the fog of traumatic memory.

**That's what stories are for. Stories are for joining the past to the future. Stories are for those late hours in the night when you can't remember how you got from where you were to where you are. Stories are for eternity, when memory is erased, when there is nothing to remember except that story. (O’Brien 34)**

As Tony Stark put it, “sometimes things happen, and then they’re over, and you still can’t explain them.” Sometimes the only way to deal with the dialectic of trauma is to tell the story to someone else, as Tony does to a sleeping Bruce Banner in _Iron Man 3_ , as dozens and even hundreds of strangers on social media platforms have done with this story, until the trauma one has experienced and the actions which were necessary to survive that trauma can be reconciled with one’s identity and sense of ethics. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


	2. Works Cited

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to all the sources! I highly recommend _Trauma and Recovery_ , although I did find it a bit triggering at times, it was in the cathartic way. If anyone objects to how I referenced or used their work please just let me know!

Works Cited

Abedi, Saqina, and Kim Shilson. (2012). “PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA AND THE BRAIN:

INTERVIEW WITH KIM SHILSON.” The Trauma and Mental Health Report. York University. <http://trauma.blog.yorku.ca/2012/09/psychological-trauma-and-the-brain-interview-with-kim-shilson/>

Basu, Moni. (14 Nov. 2013)  “Why suicide rate among veterans may be more than 22 a day.”

CNN. Web.

Bremner, J. D. (2006). “Traumatic stress: effects on the brain.” Dialogues in Clinical

Neuroscience, 8(4), 445–461.

Chaoticallyclev. “Stop taking Bucky’s arm: Bodily autonomy and re-traumatizing events in

MCU fandom.” Chaoticallyclev.tumblr.com. Tumblr, (May 2014). Accessed (1 Dec. 2014).

Captain America the First Avenger. Dir. Joe Johnston. Perf. Chris Evans. Paramount, 2011.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Dir. Anthony Russo and Joe Russo. Perf. Chris Evans.

Marvel Studios, 2014. Film.

 “Complex PTSD.” (2013). US Department of Veterans Affairs.

<http://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/PTSD-overview/complex-ptsd.asp>

fourpatch. “abuse tw.” fourpatch.tumblr.com.  Tumblr, (6 Aug. 2014). Accessed (10 Dec.

2014).

Herman, J. (1997). _Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence from domestic abuse to_

_political terror_. New York: Basic Books.

Iron Man 3. Dir. Shane Black. Perf. Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow. Marvel Studios,

2013\. DVD.

Melcer, Ted, et al. (1 Dec. 2014)"Glasgow Coma Scores, Early Opioids, And Posttraumatic

Stress  Disorder Among Combat Amputees." Journal Of Traumatic Stress 27.2 (2014): 152-159. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web.

Newhouse, Eric. (2013) “Soaring Vets’ Suicide Rates.” Psychology Today.

<http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/invisible-wounds/201303/soaring-vets-suicide-rates>

O'Brien, Tim. The Things They Carried. New York: Broadway, 1998. Print.

“Prevalence, Incidence and Consequences of Violence Against Women Survey.” (1998).

National Institute of Justice & Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

Saar-Ashkenazy, Rotem, et al. (1 Dec. 2014.) "Reduced Corpus-Callosum Volume In

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Highlights The Importance Of Interhemispheric Connectivity For Associative Memory." Journal Of Traumatic Stress 27.1 (2014): 18-26. SocINDEX with Full Text. Web.

Sara. “Pain, Personhood, and Parity: The Depiction of Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic

Universe.” (11 May 2014) Sara Reads. Blogspot. Accessed (10 Dec. 2014). <http://sechan19.blogspot.jp/2014/05/pain-personhood-and-parity-depiction-of.html>

Sava, O. and Ales Kot. (July 10, 2014)“Exclusive: Kot and Rudy launch Bucky Barnes: The

Winter Soldier in October.” The AV Club. <http://www.avclub.com/article/exclusive-kot-and-rudy-launch-bucky-barnes-winter--206711>

springbucky. “untitled.” springbucky.tumblr.com Tumblr, (19 May 2014). Accessed (11 Dec.

2014)

Vulcansmirk. “Homoerotic Subtext from the Bar Scene in CATFA.” Archive of Our Own.

(17 Nov. 2014).Web.  Accessed (9 December 2014.)

<http://archiveofourown.org/works/2631527#main>.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Works Cited will be in Chapter 2. Block quotes have been bolded for clarity, the formatting doesn't want to carry over from Word.


End file.
